Empower

  Melina shook her head. “It’s never too late. There’s still hope for them. And for you.”

  Adelia gritted her teeth together as she let out a loud, aggravated groan. “Stop saying that! There’s no hope for any of us, especially me. So give up now and quit wasting your energy.”

  Melina swallowed as she tried to sound as confident as she could. “Is that the only reason why you sought me out, to tell me to give up? Or is there some other reason?”

  Adelia’s jaw clenched as she glared over at Melina. “You think you’re smart, don’t you? Trying to uncover some hidden agenda of mine.”

  “I’m just trying to figure you out,” Melina said.

  For a few seconds Adelia just looked at Melina. “Good luck with that,” she said. And then she disappeared, leaving behind an inky black cloud that quickly swirled away in the falling snow.

  Melina went back to her apartment and did her best to wait patiently for Walter to show up. She was able to pass the first couple of hours pretty quickly by doing a little bit of work on her laptop and reading through some magazines. But as soon as it turned dark outside, and Walter still hadn’t shown up, she started to grow restless.

  Where could he be? I thought he said he would be here by now.

  She tried to watch something on TV, but her attention kept being drawn toward the front door, hoping that Walter would show up soon. Now that she had finally come to accept her demon powers, the next step was to get rid of her fear of using them. And the only way to do that was to go out and actually use them.

  About half an hour later, there was a light knock on Melina’s door. She jumped up from the couch and rushed over to the door. As she peered through the peephole, she saw Walter standing there, dressed in his usual black trench coat and matching fedora.

  “Walter,” she said as she opened the door. “You’re finally here.”

  “Yes, I’m sorry,” he said, stepping over the threshold and closing the door behind him. “I followed the man back to his house, but nothing has happened yet. I’m assuming the stealthed demons followed him back to his house, too.”

  “Was the man alone in his house?” Melina asked.

  Walter shook his head. “No, he has a wife, and she’s there with him. That’s why I thought it was safe for me to come get you now. I don’t think the demons will do anything until the man’s alone.”

  Melina nodded. “We should get there before anything happens then. I’d hate for the demons to attack when we weren’t there.” She slipped her coat on and then grabbed her keys and phone and put them in her pocket.

  “Ready?” Walter asked.

  “Yeah,” she said, nodding her head again. “But I don’t know where we’re going.”

  He held out his hand. “I’ll teleport us there.”

  She took hold of his hand and as soon as she closed her eyes she could feel that they had teleported away from her apartment. A few seconds later she opened her eyes and saw that they were standing behind a large white house.

  “Is this it?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No, the man lives in the house across the street. If the demons are hiding in stealth mode behind his house then I thought it would be safer to teleport in over here. The people who live in this house aren’t home.”

  “At least the snow has stopped and won’t hinder our vision.” Melina peered around the corner and saw a tan ranch style house across the street.

  “Can you see if there are any stealthed Noxin demons lurking around anywhere over there?” Walter asked.

  She narrowed her eyes as she scanned the darkness around the man’s house. At first she didn’t see anything, but only a few seconds later she saw two pairs of blazing red eyes toward the back of the house.

  “Yep,” she said. “I see two of them by the back left corner of the house.” She turned around and looked at Walter. “What now?”

  Walter shoved both of his hands into his coat pockets as he gazed over at the house. “We wait.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  After almost an hour had passed, Melina’s feet and lower back were starting to hurt from standing for so long. She couldn’t believe that the two Noxin demons were still waiting outside of the man’s house and hadn’t done anything yet. They usually weren’t that patient.

  “So if they’re waiting for him to be alone then what if that never happens?” Melina asked Walter. “I mean, I’m assuming he’s probably going to spend the rest of the night with his wife.”

  “I don’t know,” Walter said. “Why don’t you sit down for a little while, take a load off your feet.”

  She shook her head. “I’ll be all right. I can’t see the demons if I’m sitting down.” She leaned back against the side of the house. It relieved a little bit of her pain, but not much. Hopefully something would happen soon.

  And just then, as if on cue, the lights in the front room of the man’s house went out. Melina stood back up and looked over at the demons. They were slowly moving closer to the front. Once there, they looked into the front windows and then started to make their way around to the other side of the house.

  “They’re moving to the other side of the house,” she said to Walter.

  “The man must’ve gone into a room over there,” he said.

  “We’ve got to get closer,” she said. “But how?”

  Walter shook his head. “I don’t know how they haven’t sensed me yet, but if I get any closer, they’ll definitely sense me then.” He turned and looked her straight in the eyes. “You’ll have to do it alone.”

  She took a deep breath and nodded. Henry, please stay close, she thought as she crept toward the house.

  Once she had made it over to the side of the house, she carefully peeked around the corner and saw the two demons peering into the rear window. She knew they could sense her, but they didn’t seem bothered by her presence. That either meant there were other Noxin demons in the area, or they were expecting more demons to show up at the man’s house. Neither possibility was a good one, but she really hoped it wasn’t the latter.

  She tiptoed back to the front of the house and looked through one of the windows. The blinds were up and the drapes were pulled back, so she had a clear view into the front living room. It was dark except for a faint light coming from the hallway in the back. The man and his wife were probably back there.

  Just then the man came walking down the hallway and into the living room. He sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. It didn’t appear that his wife was following him. He was alone.

  She was about to turn around and signal to Walter when all of a sudden both of the demons materialized behind the man. They slowly moved around to the front of the couch, but even when they were standing right in front of the man, he didn’t seem to notice them. They were still in stealth mode.

  The demons both sneered at the man, their fiery red eyes blazing with hate, then one of them reached out and grabbed the man’s throat. Melina gasped as the man started to choke and gasp for air. The demon began to suck out the man’s soul, but just as quickly as he had started, he stopped and released his hold on the man’s neck. Then the other demon took over.

  Why are they taking turns? she thought. But before she was able to watch any further, she heard Walter scream out behind her.

  “Melina, look out!”

  She turned away from the window, and just at that moment she was ambushed by two women. They pushed her down onto the ground and dragged her by her arms around to the back of the house. She didn’t know who the two women were or what they wanted from her, but she wasn't going to let them continue to pull her across the hard, frozen ground. Her protective light shield burst out around her, and the two women screamed in pain as they let go of her arms and fell to the ground.

  As Melina pushed herself up to her feet, she saw both of the women’s eyes turn red, and their skin started to be taken over by a black smoky matter.

  She began to back away from them, and as they continued to morp
h into their demonic forms, a bright white light appeared next to her. She looked over to her right and saw Walter, but just then another white light appeared on her other side. When the light diminished, there stood Dean.

  Her eyes grew wide. “Dean?”

  “Later,” he said as he conjured his light shield. “Right now you need my help. There are more demons on the way.”

  “Wait, what?” Melina asked as her eyebrows shot up. “But how do you—”

  Dean cut her off. “Again, I’ll explain later. Right now just trust me.”

  She looked him straight in the eyes and gave a simple nod.

  “How many more?” Walter asked.

  Dean shrugged as he looked between him and the two female demons. “Six? Maybe seven?”

  “How do they know we’re here?” Melina asked.

  “I don’t know,” Dean said.

  Just then the two female demons jumped up from the ground and growled and hissed at them. Melina saw Dean raise his arms up to brace himself for their attack, but they didn’t move.

  “You should’ve taken our threat more seriously,” one of the demons said to Melina. “Such a stupid little human.”

  “What is she talking about?” Dean said in a low voice as he turned his head toward Melina.

  “Later,” she whispered back.

  “Why aren’t they attacking?” Dean asked.

  “They're scared of what Melina might do to them,” Walter said.

  “But I’m not,” a low female voice said from behind them.

  Melina and the others turned around to see who had joined them. It was Maura. And she wasn’t alone. Six Noxin demons in their demonic forms flanked her sides, three on the right and three on the left.

  “You should be,” Walter said as he took a confident step forward. “If you knew what she can do now—”

  “I know what she’s capable of doing now,” Maura interjected. “I even experienced a little bit of it myself. But I also know that it scares her, and she doesn’t have it in her to actually use it to its full potential.”

  Dean repeated his question from before. “What is she talking about?”

  Melina didn’t respond. She glared over at Maura, her fiery anger building up inside of her, ready to explode. As she clenched her fists at her sides, a white, fiery glow started to emanate from her hands. “Don’t underestimate me,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Ooh,” Maura said with a mischievous grin. “Is someone getting angry?”

  Melina narrowed her eyes.

  “You’re not letting your evil control you now, are you?” Maura cocked her head to the side as she placed her hands on her hips.

  Melina looked down at her glowing hands as she lifted them up in front of her. She wasn’t going to let her emotions control her or her powers anymore. She was in control. “No,” she said as she looked back over at Maura. “I’m letting it empower me. And negative emotions aren’t evil. Not if I use them to do good.”

  “Then what are you waiting for?” Maura asked as she threw her hands up in the air. “Are you afraid that some humans might see us?” She looked Melina straight in the eyes and gave an evil grin. “Because I’m not.”

  Just then Maura’s eyes turned a deep scarlet color as a black, smoky matter started to swirl all around her. She was changing into her demonic form.

  Dean’s eyes were big as he looked over at Melina and Walter. “Is she really going to start a fight right in the back yard of this man’s house?”

  “It looks like it,” Walter said.

  “And we’re just going to let her?” Dean asked.

  “We don't have a choice,” Walter said.

  After a few short seconds, the smoky cloud around Maura disappeared, and she had completely morphed into her demonic form. She bared her razor sharp teeth then let out an ear-piercing shriek as she charged at Melina, her minions following close behind.

  Maura and three of the other demons collided hard with Melina’s light shield and immediately tried to wear it down with their sharp teeth and claws. The other five demons were doing the same to Dean’s and Walter’s shields. Melina knew that their light shields burned the demons on contact, but that didn’t seem to faze any of them. The demons were determined to break them down, and if she didn’t do something fast, they would.

  She knew Maura wanted her to use her powers, and she would gladly show the demon that she wasn’t afraid to use them anymore, but there were tons of other houses around. Who knew how many people might be looking out their windows, watching them right now? She quickly glanced around the back yard. There were a few big trees lining the perimeter, but other than that there wasn’t much concealment.

  Just then her shield started to flicker, and not a second later, a bright yellow light shone throughout the back yard. A moment later, Henry appeared at her side. Surrounded by his own light shield, he instantly started throwing bolts of yellow light at Maura and the other demons. A couple of seconds later, another yellow light burst out next to Dean. When the light died down, a tall male angel with short blond hair and blue eyes was standing next to him. It was his guardian angel, Merrick. He gave Dean a quick nod and immediately joined Henry in attacking the demons.

  Maura let out a loud screech and shouted something in a language Melina couldn’t understand. She watched as Maura and the other demons joined hands. What were they doing?

  As she continued to watch them, she saw a soft white glow slowly start to appear around them. They were bringing up a protective light shield.

  Melina’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t even thought about them having access to a light shield now that they had guiding angel powers. It seemed that, just like with reading humans’ thoughts, they had to work together to conjure it.

  Henry and Merrick didn’t give up. They continued to hurl light beams at the demons, determined to break down their combined shield. Melina desperately wanted to help them, but the angels and demons couldn’t be seen right now, and she and Dean could be. They were already at risk having their light shields up around them, so she didn’t want to bring any more attention to them.

  After about a minute had passed, the demons’ shield started to flicker. All of the demons gritted their teeth and their hands began to shake. They were struggling to keep it up. Then she glanced at Henry and Merrick. Their expressions were strained and their motions had slowed. The constant attack was wearing them down. They were struggling, too.

  Maura shouted something again in her foreign tongue, and then suddenly she and all of her minions vanished in a haze of black smoke. Henry and Merrick stopped their attack and let out big sighs of relief as they let down their light shields. Melina looked at Walter, who had lowered his shield, too.

  “They’re gone for now,” he said to her. “It’s safe to let down your shield.”

  She and Dean gave each other wary glances, but they both reluctantly brought down their shields. Melina turned to look at Walter.

  “What was all that about?” she asked. “Why did they attack us right in the middle of all of these houses? Someone could’ve seen us.”

  Walter shook his head. “They’re out of control. They’re going to extreme lengths to keep us from figuring out what they’re doing to these humans.”

  “But why?” Dean asked.

  That's when Melina remembered what Adelia had said about there being a way to reverse it. “Because we can reverse it.”

  “What was that?” Walter asked.

  Melina ran a hand through her hair. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten to tell Walter about her run-in with Adelia.

  She quickly rehashed what had happened at the park, and when she was done, she looked confidently between Walter and Dean. “We can save the people they’ve already gotten to, and we can stop their plan.” She then took off toward the front of the man’s house.

  “Where are you going?” Walter asked as he, Dean, and the two guardians followed behind her.

  “Before I was ambushed and dragged away
from the window, I caught a glimpse of what they were doing to this man,” she said over her shoulder as she motioned toward the house.

  “And?” Walter asked.

  She turned around to look at him. “They were taking turns sucking out his soul.”

  Walter’s forehead crinkled. “Taking turns?”

  She nodded. “I’m pretty sure the man didn’t see them, so I think by taking turns it kept them from being knocked out of stealth mode.”

  “That would explain why everyone’s guardian angels don’t see what’s happening until it’s too late,” Walter said.

  Melina spun back around and crept over to the front window. When she peered inside, she saw the man lying down on his couch. His eyes were closed and his arms and legs were dangling off the side. Walter and Dean both came up beside her and peered inside.

  “He looks like he might be unconscious,” Walter said.

  Instantly, Melina thought back to when she had found Lee unconscious in his apartment after Maura had attacked him and taken his soul. The man looked just like Lee had.

  “They’ve taken his soul,” she said. “So then what did they do to Tessa, Lee, Gwen, and all of the other people I’ve seen with black eyes? They’re all still walking around, not laying in a comatose state.”

  Melina was confused and disappointed. Then all of a sudden the man’s eyes opened, and he sat up on the couch, looking lost and confused.

  Melina gasped and pulled back from the window. “But… how is that possible?” she asked as she looked at Walter with wide eyes. “I saw the two demons take his soul.”

  Walter swallowed and looked back at her with a grave expression. “They did take his soul. But only part of it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Melina continued to stare at Walter in shock as she remembered what Phinneas had told her once. He had never heard of it happening before, but Adelia had told him that a human could live after a Noxin demon took his soul if part of the soul was left intact. But even though the human would still have part of his soul, he probably wouldn’t be much of a human anymore. The soul, in its entirety, is what makes a person.